Kate pokes me in the shoulder hard enough that I’m sure I’ll have a bruise I’ll have to cover up before the wedding. “Does Janey have a little crush on Reid?”
I swallow hard. My thoughts are racing, trying to come up with a way to deny, to change the subject, to sweep this under the rug until the wedding is over and I can talk to her without it becoming a battle. But maybe now isthe right time. She’s getting married to the love of her life in a couple days. She barely had to lift a finger to plan any of this gorgeous Italian wedding. She’s supposed to be on the highest of highs, right?
Instead, I swat her hand away and say, “Of course not.”
Which really isn’t a lie because what I feel for him is so much more, so much deeper than a simple little crush.
She smirks. “You liar. I can see the way you look at him”
“I—”
“Don’t worry,” Kate says. “I’ve been there too. I get it. He just has such charisma that it’s easy to get sucked in by him.”
“And hiseyes,” Lydia gushes on the other side of me.
“Just be careful, Jane.” Kate reaches a hand out and pats mine in a way that I assume is supposed to be sympathetic. “He’s only going to break your poor, romantic little heart. He doesn’t date. He told me so himself.”
I know I should leave it alone, I really do, but I’m feeling incredibly defensive of Reid now. Especially over the fact that they still believe he doesn’t date, when he just poured his heart out to me on the airplane two days ago.
“Yeah, like five years ago,” I say.
“He told me last fall too,” Lydia chimes in.
I whip my head in her direction. “Why were you talking to him about dating last fall?”
“Sam had just dumped me, so I tried to shoot my shot with Reid at Ricky’s Halloween party.” She shrugs. Kate scoffs next to me, which is all I needed to hear to know how she felt about Lydia trying to be the Sinclair sister to change Reid’s perpetual bachelorhood. “He said he wasn’t a relationship guy.”
“See?” Kate interjects. “Why would he suddenly want to be a relationship guy for you?”
There is a small part of me that has been worried that maybe we’ve just been swept up in the wedding madness and the idea of being here to celebratea couple in love. That maybe we’ll fly back home and without the flurry of emotions and romance it’ll all come crashing down around us.
But deep in my heart, I know she’s wrong. They both are.
Right?
“How do you know he’s not just waiting for the right girl?” They both look at me like I’ve sprouted a third arm. “And why is it so crazy that I could be that girl?”
“Jane, I love you, but you don’t date either, so how would you possibly know how to rope him in?” Kate asks.
“I’m not trying to rope him in. I just . . . like his company.”
I like bickering with him. I like spending time with him. I like making him smile and laughing with him. I like that he encourages me and he listens and he sees me. He knows me well enough to file away my favorite drink and food and to make it for me when I’m about to call my therapist.
I like who I am with him, and I think he likes who he is with me too. And maybe this is new territory for him, but I’m willing to take that risk with him. Because isn’t the risk of heartbreak worth it if the journey to love is so spectacular?
“Alright,” Kate says. “Go ahead and try to woo the perpetual bachelor. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.”
Lydia nods next to her, but I ignore both of them and lean back in my seat. For once, I don’t care what they say. And for once, I actually can’t wait to leave this sister time so I can go back and see Reid. I don’t need to stay here and bond with them or seek their approval on a man I know better than either of them do.
I know in my heart I’m ready to take that leap with Reid, even if it ends with him with a broken arm or me with a broken heart.
Chapter 21
The stars sparkle on the serene waters and a breeze blows loose strands of my hair off my face. I tip my head back, closing my eyes and letting out a contented sigh. I’m soaking in the quiet night for the first time since we got here two days ago, and after today’s spa day, I could use a break from my sisters.
Elise is keeping me company, but Charlie is blowing up her phone so much with lovesick messages about how much he misses her that we’ve barely been able to talk. I smile at her as she walks back toward the white chaise lounge chair next to mine and flops into it.
“Men,” she says with a sigh. “You’d think he was on this trip by himself with how he’s acting.”
